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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8791
One Hundred Years of Mount Vernon Church
--
MOUNT VERNON CHURCH From the Charles River Basin, looking over the end of Harvard Bridge
One Hundred Years
of
Mount
Vernon Church C
1842-1942
By Pauline Holmes
To my teacher and dear
friend,
Aithier Orlo Norton, who frucht The the joys
of historical
research with the best wishes of The author Pauline Holmes
Published by MOUNT VERNON CHURCH OF BOSTON MAY 1942
COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY MOUNT VERNON CHURCH OF BOSTON
PRINTED BY THE VERMONT PRINTING COMPANY IN BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT UNITED STATES
1334571
TO THE PRESENT MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, TO ALL FORMER MEMBERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, AND ESPECIALLY TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE ANSWERED THE FINAL ROLL CALL, THIS HISTORY OF THEIR BELOVED MOUNT VERNON CHURCH IS AFFECTIONALLY DEDICATED
Preface
It is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and to be short in the story itself .- THE APOCRYPHA, SECOND MACCABEES, II, 32
O NE HUNDRED YEARS is an important milestone in the life of any institution. In a spirit of humility, Mount Vernon Church re- views the treasure of its heritage and, with renewed faith and courage, faces the future.
This history is not only a record of the church but a picture of Boston and New England in the nineteenth century: the national and interna- tional crises; the establishment of schools and colleges, including Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Wellesley Female Seminary, the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, and others; the social action of the period, including the establishment of many missionary and religious organiza- tions; and the customs and ideology of the times.
The names of Alden, Bradford, Cushing, Kimball, Leland, Palmer, Pinkerton, Tobey, Tyler, Warren, Woods, and many others associated with the history of Boston and New England, hold an honorable place in the history of old Mount Vernon Church. As a study of the educa- tional, political, and sociological history of Boston and vicinity, it is hoped that this volume will interest even those who have no personal knowledge of this historic church.
This study of the church from 1842 to 1942 has been made almost entirely from original sources, either in manuscript or in printed form. These include-in addition to the books listed in the Bibliography-the original call to the Reverend Edward N. Kirk in 1842; a page from the Journal of Dr. Kirk; the Plan and Evaluation of the Pews in 1844; deeds to pews; deeds to land; old letters from ministers and members; pro- grams of events; the wills of Dr. Kirk and Dr. Herrick; receipts and vouchers; old newspapers; magazines; Boston directories and almanacs; the Sunday calendars from 1903 to 1942; scrap-books of Mr. George H. Bradford, Miss Dorothy A. Hickie, Miss Addie Pervere, and Miss Rose Stewart; manuscript and printed sermons; photographs and daguerreo- types of Mr. Josiah Johnson Hawes, who joined the church in 1855; an- nual reports of all the organizations; maps; and tombstones.
Of the secondary sources, the most valuable work-representing a study of the original sources and a long and painstaking collection of ma- terials-is Life of Edward Norris Kirk, D.D., by the Reverend David Otis Mears, who joined the church in 1866. From 1865 to 1867 he took
vii
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
a full theological course of private study under Dr. Kirk. Dr. Mears be- came minister of the North Avenue Congregational Church in Cam- bridge, the Piedmont Congregational Church in Worcester, the Calvary Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, and the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Albany.
Dr. Mears' son, Professor Eliot Grinnell Mears of Stanford University, one-time United States Trade Commissioner in Athens and later in Con- stantinople, has given to Mount Vernon Church, as a centenary gift, a copy of the Autobiography of David Otis Mears, D.D., 1842-1893, with Memoir and Notes by H. A. Davidson, published in 1920 by the Pilgrim Press. The church acknowledges its appreciation.
From the wealth of primary and secondary sources-five trunks full in the church attic-the problem of selection has been difficult. There is enough material for a volume twice this size, notwithstanding the ir- reparable loss by fire in 1879 of some of the church records, then in the Federal Street office of the church clerk.
Inviting clues appear every day. In spite of over two years of research, valuable documents, hiding in some attic, will probably come to light after the book is printed. Every one is "attic-conscious" today, but more interested in air raid precautions and sand bags than in dusty old docu- ments.
Some valuable documents are hiding in a copper box, deposited in the corner stone in 1891. These include church manuals, several manuscript sermons of Dr. Kirk, several printed sermons of Dr. Herrick, photo- graphs of Dr. Kirk, Dr. Herrick, and several of the original members and officers of the church, the original subscription paper to the Build- ing Fund, copies of the local daily papers, a list of the building commit- tee, and a "number of other documents appropriate to the occasion." Those last eight words-number of other documents appropriate to the occasion-are tantalizing because of their abstractness. How many times the writer has wished she could have access to that copper box! Only photographic copies of precious documents should be buried in corner stones.
For their interesting reminiscences, written by request for this history and included in the Appendix, the writer is indebted to Miss Margaret F. Herrick, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Edward Herrick; Dr. Ed- ward Southworth Hawes; and the Reverend Henri A. Neipp, who as missionary representing this church established Mount Vernon Church in Africa.
For other written and verbal reminiscences, included in the text, the writer is indebted to Miss Grace A. Andrews of Wellesley College;
viii
PREFACE
Miss Mary A. Ballou; Miss Marion L. Chapin; Mrs. U. Waldo Cutler (née Emma F. Leland) ; Mrs. William Max Gifford (née Maude Vester- gard); Mrs. John D. Graham (née Gertrude Higgins) ; Mrs. Alfred A. Gillette (née Marjorie Holmes) ; Miss Nancy H. Harris; Miss Dorothy A. Hickie; Miss Carrie B. Higgins; Miss Ruth F. Higgins; Mr. John H. Kelly; Mrs. George A. Leland (née Alice P. Higgins) ; Dr. George A. Leland, Jr .; Mrs. George D. Olds (née Marion E. Leland) ; Mrs. Albert W. Pratt (née Blanche Goodnow) ; Miss Rose Stewart; Miss Mary P. Stone; Mrs. Ella Freeman Talmage, the sister of Mrs. Alice Freeman Pal- mer; Miss Sally Usher; and Mr. Kenneth Shaw Usher.
For their biographical sketches and letters of greeting, included in the text, the writer is grateful to the former ministers, the Reverend Al- bert Parker Fitch, the Reverend James Austin Richards, and the Reverend Sidney Lovett. She also thanks many of the assistant ministers and minister's assistants who sent letters of greeting.
For information concerning old Boston, the ministers, missionaries, schools, and colleges, the writer thanks Mr. William Alcott, librarian of the Boston Globe; the Reverend Enoch F. Bell of the American Board; Dr. Joseph D. Brownell, president of Northland College; Mrs. Eileen M. Butler, librarian of Pinkerton Academy; Miss Marjorie Holbrook, who helped with the research preparatory to the one hundredth anniver- sary window display of the Gilchrist Company; Miss Kate B. Lee of the Orchard Home School; Mr. Walter W. Newton, clerk of the Park Street Church; Miss Frances Bell Pinkerton, whose father's second cousin was Deacon John M. Pinkerton; Dr. Harris E. Starr, author of the biographi- cal sketch of Dr. Kirk in the Dictionary of American Biography; and Mr. Stanley W. Wright, principal of Pinkerton Academy.
The Mount Holyoke College Library gave the church, as a centenary gift, a copy of Memorial, Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Mount Holy- oke Female Seminary, 1862, containing the address by Dr. Kirk. The church acknowledges its appreciation.
The writer acknowledges the assistance rendered by the staffs of the Boston Public Library, the Newton Public Library, the Watertown Public Library, the Archives Division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Congregational Library, Mr. Newton F. Mc Keon of the Amherst College Library, Mrs. Elinor Gregory Metcalf of the Library of the Bos- ton Athenaeum, Mr. Dennis A. Dooley of the Library of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, Mr. T. Franklin Currier and Mr. Robert H. Haynes of the Harvard College Library, Dr. Arthur H. Cole of the Baker Library of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administra- tion, Miss Bertha E. Blakely and Miss Flora B. Ludington of the Mount
ix
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
Holyoke College Library, Mr. Lawrance Thompson of the Princeton Uni- versity Library, Dr. Kenneth S. Gapp of the Princeton Theological Sem- inary Library, Miss Lilla Weed and Miss Margaret Boyce of the Wellesley College Library, and Miss Marian D. Merrill of the Wheaton College Library.
She is also indebted to several societies for their help; namely, Mr. James L. Bruce, clerk of the Bostonian Society, Mr. Samuel C. Clough, a member of the Colonial Society, Mr. Allyn B. Forbes and Miss Dorothy Fox of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mr. William Sumner Apple- ton, corresponding secretary of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Mr. Clifford K. Shipton, librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, and the staff of the New England His- toric and Genealogical Society.
For help in collecting documents in the church attic the writer thanks Miss Nathalie A. Dyer, Miss Louise Fay, Miss Dorothy A. Hickie, Miss Gertrude Nelson, and Mr. Joseph Clouter, the ex-sexton, who carried heavy trunks up and down those steep attic stairs. For help in finding material in libraries and copying letters, deeds, and wills, she thanks Mr. and Mrs. Eskel O. Carlson, Miss Nathalie A. Dyer, Miss Louise Fay, and Miss Harriet Robinson.
For reading the manuscript and giving valuable and constructive criticism, she is greatly indebted to Mrs. Eskel O. Carlson, Mr. and Mrs. James Wallace Craig, the Reverend and Mrs. Carl Heath Kopf, and Miss Frances Pettee. For help in typing-through the kindness of the church- she thanks Miss Grace M. Sargent.
She thanks the Reverend Carl Heath Kopf for asking her to undertake what has proved an endlessly fascinating task.
Most of all she acknowledges her indebtedness to her mother for many helpful suggestions and constant encouragement, without which this history could never have been completed. Those of you who have been privileged to know her and love her will understand.
-PAULINE HOLMES
WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS
January 1, 1942
X
Contents
PAGE
Preface
vii
Introduction XV
Chapter
I The Establishment of Mount Vernon Church I
II The Ministers 7
III Church Buildings and Herrick House 19
IV Memorials 29
V Missionary Activities and Religious Organizations 34
VI Educational Institutions and Educational Organizations . 46
VII National and International Crises 57
VIII Organizations and Activities for Adults 68
IX The Church School and Organizations for Children 87
X Discipline and Punishment 93
XI Government and Support 99
XII Music I02
XIII Mount Vernon Church Today 107
Appendix
A Record of the meeting on December 16, 1841 II3
B The Original Call to Dr. Kirk in 1842 II4
C Confession of Faith and Covenant in 1842 II7
D Resolutions passed on the death of the Reverend Samuel E. Herrick I20
E Resolutions passed on the resignation of the Reverend Albert Parker Fitch I22
F Resolutions passed on the resignation of the Reverend James Austin Richards 123
xi
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
PAGE
G Resolutions passed on the resignation of the Reverend Sidney Lovett I24
H Letters of greeting from Acting Ministers, Assistant Min- isters, and Minister's Assistants 125
I Memoir of a Life in Africa, by the Reverend Henri A. Neipp 136
J Reminiscences of Mount Vernon Church before 1880, by Miss Margaret F. Herrick, who joined the church in 1879 I45
K Some Boyhood Reminiscences of Mount Vernon Church and of the Boston of Day Before Yesterday, by Edward Southworth Hawes, who joined the church in 1876. .... 150
L Dr. Kirk's letter in 1856, requesting leave of absence to establish the American Church in Paris 16I
M Calendars of letters of Dr. Kirk and Deacon Safford in the Mount Holyoke College Library 164
N Letter of Dr. Kirk to the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop I68
O Letter of Miss A. Ellen Stanton, principal of Wheaton Seminary 170
P Table of Contents of Mount Vernon Literary Album 171
Q John B. Gough, the temperance lecturer I78
R List of Church Officers 179
S Church Members from 1842 to 1942 183
T The Growth of Church Membership 216
Bibliography 218
xii
List of Illustrations
Mount Vernon Church from the Charles River Basin. . .. Frontis piece
FACING PAGE
Signatures of the Original Members on June 1, 1842. XVI
First page of the Call to Dr. Kirk I
Edward N. Kirk 8
S. E. Herrick . 8
Albert Parker Fitch 9
James Austin Richards 9
Sidney Lovett I6
Carl Heath Kopf I7
Daniel Safford, John M. Pinkerton, Dwight L. Moody, Thomas Y. Crowell
24
Mount Vernon Church on Ashburton Place 24
The organ in the Ashburton Place Church 25
Interior of the Ashburton Place Church
25
Program of Dedication of the Ashburton Place Church. 25
Henry Woods, Mrs. Henry Woods, Mrs. David R. Craig, James W. Craig 28
Memorial Window to Dr. James Ayer 32
Mount Vernon Honor Roll 66
A page of the Records of the Soldiers Aid Association 72
The officers in 1885
72
Thirty-sixth anniversary of the Association of Young People
73
Officers of the Association of Young People in 1893
73
Ecclesiastical Principles and Rules
96
The Amendment in 1904 to include women as legal members of the church 97
Program of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Association of Young People 104
Musicale by the Choir in 1903 104 Miss Rose Stewart 104
The Children's Choir 105
Kenneth Usher 105
xiii
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
FACING PAGE
The Interior of the Church today II2
Mount Vernon Church today II2
David Mears' Program of Study under Dr. Kirk II3
First Page of the Record of the Prudential Committee I28 Receipted bill for a "Bronzed Spittoon" I28
Dr. Kirk's biographical sketch 128
George H. Bradford, John G. Hosmer, Miss Serena Perry, Mrs. George Washburn 129
Alice M. Hawes, Marion A. Hawes, Edward Southworth Hawes .. 129
Mount Vernon Church in Chilesso, Angola, Africa 136
Reverend and Mrs. Henri A. Neipp
I44
Miss Margaret Foster Herrick, Mrs. Sophia W. Herrick
145
Presidents of the organizations in 1942
176
The Standing Committee in 1942 176
The Deacons in 1942 I77
The Deacons in 1909 177
The Church Staff in 1942 192
Some Members of the Women's Association in 1924 193
xiv
Introduction
I T WAS MONTESQUIEU who remarked: "Happy the people whose annals are tiresome." I dare to hope that the history of Mount Vernon Church refutes this epigram.
This goodly company has for a century been a very happy people, with only six ministers in the one hundred years. Surely pastor and people have lived long together in the ministry of Christ for the healing of souls.
But if it has been a happy church it does not follow that its annals are tiresome. They might have been, except that the historian has made the dry bones of history to live with flesh and blood and beauty and power. As I read her pages, the annals are firesome rather than tiresome. May I commend to you her indefatigable patience in research, her charm and ease in writing. She has written this book as a labor of love for the church.
Fifty years on Ashburton Place, fifty years where cross the crowded ways, this congregation may well be proud of its steadiness in all good works. I am humbly grateful to have the honor of ministering to this great parish on its one hundredth birthday.
And now may God bless us together, old friends and new friends. We face the second century, for which the first was made.
-CARL HEATH KOPF
XV
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SIGNATURES OF ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF JUNE 1, 1842
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FIRST PAGE OF THE CALL TO DR. KIRK
The document is dated March 30, 1842, and signed by Seth Bliss, Gorham D. Abbott, George W. Crockett, Thomas Adams, William W. Stone, Daniel Safford and Marshall S. Scudder
1
The Establishment of Mount Vernon Church
Think what she may become and be worthy of her .- PERICLES
O NE HUNDRED YEARS ago-in 1842-Boston was a small city, with a population, including East Boston, South Boston, and The Islands, of less than one hundred and fourteen thousand inhabitants.1
Boston had long been distinguished as a "center of culture and erudi- tion." Charles Dickens, who made his first visit to the city in 1842, wrote that Boston was what he would like "the whole United States to be." He enjoyed meeting and hearing about the famous literati of Boston, Cam- bridge, and Concord-among whom were James Freeman Clarke, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James T. Fields, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, class poet at Harvard in 1838, and John Greenleaf Whittier-young men all in their twenties or thirties. This golden age of literature,2 the "Flowering of New England," was already well-budded.
One hundred years ago Jonathan Chapman was Mayor of Boston, John Davis, Governor of the Commonwealth, and John Tyler, President of the United States. Edward Everett was minister to Great Britain, whose queen, the young Victoria, was then only twenty-three years old, having succeeded to the throne in 1837.
The Back Bay, which was later to become the fashionable residential section with wide avenues and streets, was then a marsh land covered by tidal flow from the bay. Sportsmen used to hunt along the marshy shores for duck and snipe, and to fish through the ice in winter. Beacon Hill was then a fashionable residential section of the city and contained the homes of many prominent old Boston families.
Amid these surroundings, Mount Vernon Church was established in 1842 by a group of earnest men who believed that the Reverend Edward Norris Kirk, a prominent evangelist who had conducted revivals in New York, Philadelphia, New Haven, and Boston, had a mission and a mes- sage for Boston. Not yet had Boston "recovered her own ground, lost from the faith." The conflict between the advocates of Unitarianism and of Trinitarianism was still going on. In 1800, the Old South Church
1 Boston, founded in 1630 under town government, became a city in 1822. The popula- tion in 1840, according to the United States census, was 93,383, and in 1845, according to the Boston census, 114,366.
2 Van Wyck Brooks, The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865, published by E. P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1936.
1
2
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
alone was faithful to the old Congregational Trinitarian doctrines. In 1809 Park Street Church was established, a "tower of strength and of safety."
To the Reverend Silas Aiken and to Daniel Safford of the Park Street Church, more perhaps than to any others, was due the formation of Mount Vernon Church. While many pulpits were not in sympathy with evangelists, the doors of the Park Street Church were open to Dr. Kirk. In the midst of his revival work, a number of religious people in Boston, chiefly members of the Park Street Society, arranged for a series of special services3 to be held in the Park Street Church.
On Saturday evening, June 27, 1840, Dr. Kirk preached his first ser- mon in Boston on the text, "Prepare to meet thy God." For nine succes- sive days, twice each day, the doors of the church were "opened to the multitudes thronging to hear his message." Long before the service "people were gathering outside, ready in the first few moments to fill pews, aisles, and pulpit. No audience-room was large enough to hold the multitudes that came together."4
The crowds on a Sunday morning were "safe guides to the church where the young Chrysostom was to preach. Unitarians in great numbers deserted their own churches to hear him. Many a worshiper in some half- filled upholstered pew was nettled at the contrast; and if tradition be true . . . several, pricked in their hearts by something besides religion, pri- vately suggested, and even once openly, that Kirk should have a church of his own."5 The idea, spoken "in jest but also in earnest," soon bore fruit. On December 16, 1841, a meeting6 of "the pastors and several lay brethren from the Orthodox Congregational Churches in this city" was held at the house of Daniel Safford "to consider the expediency of form- ing a new Orthodox Congregational church in this city, and inviting the Reverend Edward N. Kirk to become its pastor."
A committee of nine, appointed "to take the subject into considera- tion," held meetings for prayer and consultation from December 16, 1841, to March 29, 1842. The proposed enterprise was discussed from all angles. After obtaining the names of twenty-five brethren, who "professed themselves ready to be united with a new church, on condition that Rev. Mr. Kirk should become its Pastor," the committee "dissolved, transfer-
3 Upon three occasions these revival services were held in the Park Street Church, the last in the autumn of 1841. During the great Boston revivals of 1841 and 1842-under the preaching of Jacob Knapp, Charles G. Finney, who later became president of Oberlin College, Edward N. Kirk, and others-more than 4000 members were added to the Evangelical churches of the city.
4 David O. Mears, Life of Edward Norris Kirk, D.D., p. 165.
5 Ibid, p. 169.
6 See Appendix A for a complete record of the meeting.
3
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MOUNT VERNON CHURCH
ring to these brethren all their powers and instructions, and commending them and their enterprise to the Great Head of the church, and to the confi- dence and co-operation of their brethren in this city."7
In April and May, these brethren held weekly prayer meetings to fur- ther their plans. On March 30, 1842, the official call8 was sent to Dr. Kirk, a manuscript letter of over 1600 words signed by Seth Bliss, Gor- ham D. Abbott, George W. Crockett, Thomas Adams, William W. Stone, Daniel Safford, and Marshall S. Scudder. With persuasive eloquence, the committee emphasized in this letter the advantages of settling in Boston, a city of "much intelligence and wealth," that might be "brought to the foot of the Cross & enlisted in the noble work of restoring a pure gospel to the Old World."
This persuasion was effective and on May 14, 1842, it was announced to the little group in Daniel Safford's parlor that Dr. Kirk had accepted the call.9 There was great rejoicing.
An Ecclesiastical Council was called, which convened in the vestry of Park Street Church on the morning of Wednesday, June 1, 1842, when forty-seven members-twenty-five men, including Dr. Kirk, and twenty- two women-were regularly organized into a church. At their own re- quest they had been dismissed from their respective churches.10
The consecrating prayer was offered by the Reverend William Jenks11 of the Green Street Church. The fellowship of the churches was extended by the Reverend William M. Rogers of the Central Church. The churches represented in the Council were all the Orthodox Congregational churches in Suffolk County, the Second Church in Dorchester, the Mercer Street Church in New York City, the First Church in Malden, the Evan- gelical Congregational Church in Cambridgeport, the Eliot Church in
" The Confession of Faith and Covenant of the New Congregational Church, in Bos- ton, Mass., with a Brief History. p. 5. {Printed in 1842.]
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